REBEL VIDEO visited the USA, Canada, and Europe in 2018. It was a book launch event with film screenings and discussion. The aim of the tour was to stimulate discussion about the video movement of the 70s and 80s and its relevance for film/video activism today. People could follow my journey through a newsletter and on Facebook. The final presentation of the results of Rebel Video will be in Zurich on May 25. I am happy to see you there!
All the best, Heinz Nigg
Dates and locations
San Francisco: March 12, 11.00 am
California University of the Arts (CCA), Cinema Rendez-Vous, 1111 8th Street
Host: Jeanne C. Finley
Chicago: March 22
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, only for students
Hosts: Tirtza Even (morning) and Mary Patten (afternoon)
Montreal: March 25, 7.00 pm
Cinémathèque québécoise, 335, De Maisonneuve Blvd East
Host: Guillaume Lafleur
New York: April 3, 6.30 pm
Reels for Radicals, 168 Canal Street
Hosts: Rebecca Centeno (Deep Dish TV) and Marisa Holmes (Paper Tiger Television)
London: April 9, 6.30 pm
MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street
Host: The London Community Video Archive
Genova: April 23, 7.00 pm
Teatro Altrove, Piazetta Cambiaso 1
Host: Archivio dei movimenti
Zurich: May 25, 6.30 pm
Cinema Toni / Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), Pfingstweidstrasse 96
Host: Christian Iseli
The tour was supported by Pro Helvetia, the Arts Council of Switzerland.
Screenings
Program 1: The London Tapes. Community action, mobile media vans, squatting and investigative video in London of the 70s and 80s. Excerpts from videos from Inter-Action, Fantasy Factory, and Despite TV.
Program 2: Cities on the Move and Urban riots. Unrest in Zurich 1980–1984. Excerpts from videos from Community Media, the Videoladen and from oral history interviews with video activists.
Background
In the 1970s and 1980s, young activists discovered video as a new medium and used moving images in their struggle for access to cultural expression for the many, not the few. They were researching and developing new forms of independent and participatory media work – an important step towards realizing the utopian promises of the digital age. The book publication and website REBEL VIDEO portray practitioners of community and alternative video in London, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, and Zurich. The book is complemented with essays on documentary film and video art and shines a light on the video movement in all its many facets. Most of the videos mentioned in the book can be viewed as excerpts on the website.
About Heinz Nigg
Heinz Nigg is a Swiss anthropologist, community artist, and video activist. In 1980 he documented the outbreak of the youth riots in Zurich. In 2017 he curated Rebel Video for the Swiss National Museum, an exhibition about the alternative video movements of the 1970s and 1980s in Switzerland and the UK. He is co-founder of the London Community Video Archive.
Contact
Heinz Nigg, info@rebelvideo.ch